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The stakes are even higher in the fourth season. diplomat — When the United States secretly hijacked Russian nuclear missiles in British waters. So British Ambassador Kate Wyler (Keri Russell) has marital problems as she juggles her marriage to Vice President Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell) with the professional duties of President Grace Penn (Alison Janney) (her husband is played by Bradley Whitford). But showrunner Deborah Cahn has delivered another “thrilling and gripping” season, critics say. Critics gave the Netflix drama a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 92 on Metacritic.
TV Insider’s Matt Roush calls the season “intense, thrilling, exciting, and sensationally entertaining,” praising Cahn for balancing international intrigue with “some of the wittiest dialogue that will have you giggling until the next dizzying shock stifles your laughter and turns into a gasp of ‘OMG.'” His rating is five stars.
“In Season 4 diplomat IGN’s Michael Peyton says, “IGN’s Michael Peyton is a thrilling, exhilarating thriller with a masterful script, stunning cinematography, and top-notch acting.” He praises Sewell and Russell’s on-screen chemistry. “They continue to be dynamite,” he wrote. Additionally, Whitford, who “makes the most of the show’s darkly comedic writing,” calls the scene featuring Chief of Staff Billie Appiah (Nana Mensah) “one of those two hands.” “It highlights the show’s tour de force storytelling and outstanding acting.”
But he said there’s never been a better recent Emmy winner, singling out Janney in particular. “Intricately drawn and perfectly acted, Grace Penn is a revelation of character,” he wrote. “As Penn, Janney is at once flighty and megalomaniacal, grounded and borderline crazy, caring and utterly unforgiving… Grace Penn is the most complex and well-drawn president ever put on screen, and Janney hits the grand slam in every scene she appears in.”
“Nothing on TV is as entertaining as this extremely stressful show,” Sarah Dempster wrote. guardianWe award 5 stars for the season. “Some big things happen, involving snipers, security breaches, and old-school Russians with their chins to their chests muttering about the fall of the West. … But as always, it’s the little things that are most fascinating: the constant subtle shifts in power, the twists and turns of affection in the endless 4D chess game that is the marriage of the Wylas.” Dempster calls the cast “fantastic.” “At least Whitford as the indifferent Penn and Sewell as the selfish Hal, the latter’s performance being a series of fleeting tics performed behind the cheekbones that could tear a cobweb from a proscenium arch.”
But it’s not all positive. IndieWire’s Ben Travers argues that the series lost interest due to Kate’s efforts to reconcile with Hal. “It can be healthy for a marriage, but it’s a disaster for a marriage. diplomat“Watching the Wylers work as a team may be a nice, cozy idea, but it neutralizes the drama and shifts all the weight to political maneuvering that’s simultaneously too close to reality to offer effective escapism and too far from reality to offer cathartic insight. … Without the usual marital drama, the political drama becomes too close to a polite simulation of what’s really going on in Washington that we lose any hope of suspending disbelief.” Ultimately, he graded the season a C.